News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-02-03

world and in the presence of all the piled up
i galleries of the redeemed and the
unfallen, Jesus, our King, shah di-
vide the spoil! The more wounds, the
greater the inheritance. The longer the
| forced march, the brighter the trophy. The
| more terrible the exhaustion, the more glori-
| Gus the transport. Not the gift of a brilliant
ribbon, or a medal of brass, or silver, OF
gold, but q kingdom in which we are to reign
| for ever and ever. Mansions on the eternal
hills. Dominions of unfading power. EN-
pires of unending love. Continents of ever
| lasting light Atlantic and Pacific oceans
of billowing Joy. 1t was great day
when Aurelian, the Roman Emperor,
came back from his victories: In Ine
| front of the procession were wild beasts
| from all lands, sixteen hundred gladlators
richly clad, wagon loads of crowns and
| trophies presented by conquered cltieSi
! among the Captives SyrianS, Egyptians,
Goths Naudals, SarmatianS, Franks; and
| Zenobia. the beautiful captive queen, on foot
in chains of gold that a slave had to help her
| carry, and jewels under the weight OF which
she almost tainted. And then came The
chariot of Aurelian drawn by four eiePhanbS
in Gorgeous caparison, and followed
by tho Roman, Senate and the Roman army;
and from dawn till dark the procession was
passng Rome in all her history never saw
ANYTHING more magnificent. But how much
greater the day when our Conqueror, Jesus,
shall ride under the triumphal arches OF
heaven; His captives, not on foot, but IN
chariotS all the kingdoms OF earth and heaven
in procession; the armies celestial on Whlte
horses Rambling artillery of thunderboItS
never again to be unlimbered. Kingdoms IN
lire. centuries in line, sanity, cherubic,
scramble archangelic splendors IN line, and
Christ seated on one great rolling hosanna'
made out of all Halleluiahs OF all wor3ds,
shall cry hclt to the procession. Aud not
forgetting even the humolesG IN an Cne efl
of His omnipresence, He shall rise, and then
and there His work done and His glory CON
sumatsd, proceed, amid an ecstasy such as
neither mortal nor immortal ever imagined,
to divide the spoil.
lao no uuderrate the enemy. Julius Cesar
got his greatest victories by fully estimating
thu vastness of his foes and prepared his men
for their greatest triumph by saying: "To-
morrow King Juba will be here with thirty
thousand horses, one hundred thousand Skin
mishers, and three hundred elephants
do not underrate the vast forces of Sin
and Death; but do you know who COM
mands usa Jehovah-jireh. And the re-
serve corps behind us are all the armies
of heaven and earth, with hurricane and
thunderbolt. The good work of the worlds
redemption IS going on every minute. Never
so many splendid men and glorious women
on the side of right a to-day. Never so many
good people as now. DiogeneS has been
spoken of as q wise man because he went
with lantern at monday, saying he was
looking for an honest man. If he had
turned his lantern toward himself he might
have discovered a crank. Honest men by the
ten thousand! Through the International
Series of SundaY-Schoolr lessons the
next generation all through ChriStendOm are
going to be wiser than any generation since
the world stood. The kingdom is coming.
God can do it. No housewife with chamois
cloth ever polished a silver teaspoon with
more ease than Christ will rub Off from this
world the tarnish and brighten it up till it
glOwS like heaven, and then the glorious APP
portionment, for my text is reinforced by
score of other texts when it says of Christ:
He shall divide the spoil with the strong"
But, you say, that is pleasant to think
of for Others, but before that time / shall
have passed up into another existence, and I
shall get no advantage from that new ap-
pOrtOinment." All, you have only driven me
to the other more exciting and transporting
consideration, and that is that Christ is 60
ing to divide up heaven in the same way.
There are old estates in the celestial world
that have been in the possession of
and they shall remain as they
are. There are old family mansions
in heaven filed with whole generations of
kindred, and they shall never be driven out
Many of the viCtOrs from earth have already
got their palaces, and they are pointed out
to those newly arrived. Soon after our get
ting there we will ask to be shown the ADoS-
tolic residences and ask where does Paul
live, and John, and shown the patriarchal
residences, and shall say: "Where does
Abraham live, or Jacob" and shown the
martyr residences and say: Where does
John Huss live, and Ridleyp We will want
to see the boulevards where the chariots
of conquerors roll. l will want to sec
the garden where the princes walk. We
viii want to see Music Row, where Handel,
and Haydn, and Mozart, and Charles Wes-
ley, and Thomas Hastings, and Bradbury
have their homes, out of their windows ever
and anon, rolling some snatch of an earthly
oratorlo or hymn transported with the COM
poser. We will want to see Revival Terrace,
where Whitefeld, and Nettleton, and Payson,
and Rowland Hill, and Charles Finney and
other giants of soul-reaping are resting from
their almost supernatural labors, their doors
thronged with converts Just arrived. coming
to report themselves.
But brilliant as the sunset, and like the
leaves for number, are the celestial homes
yet to be awarded when Christ to you, and
millions of others, shall divide the spoil
What do you want there? You shall have it.
An orchard! There it is; twelve manner of
fruits, and fruit every month. Do you want
river scenery2 Take your choice on the
banks of the river, in longer, wider, deeper
roll than Danube, or Amazon, or Missis-
sippi if mingled in one, and emptying into
the sea of glass, mingled with fire. Do
you want your kindred back agaiu'
Go out and meet your father and mother
without the staff or the stooD, and your chill
dren in dance of immortal glee. Do you
want a throne? Select it from the million
FURNISHED elevations. Do you want crown?
Pick it out of that mountain of diamonded
coronets. Do you want your old church
friends of earth around you'll Begin to hum
an old revival tune and they will flock from
all quarters to revel with yoa in sacred remi-
niscence. All the earth for those who are
here on earth at the time of continental and
planetary distribution, and all the heavens
for those who are there.
That heavenly distribution of spoils will be
a surprise to many. Here enters heaven the
soul Of man who took up a great deal of
room in the church on earth but sacrificed
little, and among his good works selfshness
was evident. He Just crowds through the
shining gate, but it's a very tight squeeze, so
that the door-keeper has to pun hard to get
him In, and this man expects half of heaven
for his share of trophies and he would like
a monopoly of all its splendor, and to
purchase lots in the suburbs so that he
could get advantage of the growth of
the city. Well, little by little grace of
heart, just enough to get him through, and
to him is given a secondhand crown which
one OF the saints wore at the start, but ex-
changed for a brighter one as he went on
from glory to glory. And he is PIT in an old
house once occupied by an angel who was
hurled out of Heaven at the time of Satans
rebellion.
Right after him comes a soul that makes
great stir among the celestials, and the
angels rush TO the scene each bringing to her
a dazzling coronet. Who is shei Over what
realm on earth was she queen3 in what great
Dusseldorf festival was she the Cantatrice?
Neither. She was an invalid who never left
her room for twenty wears; but she was
strong in prayer, and she prayed down re-
vival after revival and pentecoSt after pen
tecOst, uDon the churches, and with her
pale hands she knit many a mitten or
tippet for the poor, and with her
contrfvances she added joy to many
holiday festival, aud now with those thin
hands so strong for kindness, and with those
white lips so strong for suppliCation she has
won coronation, aud Environment and iuhi
Ice. And Christ says to the angels who
have brought each crown for the glorifed
invalid: mo, not these; they are not good
enough. But in the jeweled vase at the
right hand side of my throne there is one
that have been preparing for her many
year, and for her every paug have set an
amethyst, and for her every good deed l
have set a pearl. Fetch it now and fulfill
the promise gave her long ago in the sick
room: BE thou faithful unto death, and !
will give thee "a crown
But notice that there is only one being in
the universe who can and will distribute the
trophies of earth and heaven. 1t is the Di-
vine Warrior, the Commander-in-C Chief of
the centuries, the champion of ages, the uni
TerSal conquerOr, the Son of God, Jesus. y GU
Will take the spoils from His hand, or never
take them at all Have His friendship and
you may defy all time and all eter-
nifty, but without it you are a pau
Ter, though you had a universe at your
command We are told in Revelation that
Jacobs twelve sons were 50 hOnored as to
have the tWele gates of Heaven named after
them-Over one gate of Heaven Naphtali,
over another gate of Heaven Issachar over
another Dan, over another Cad, over another
LeOulOn, over another Judah, and so on. But
Chrlsts name is written over all the gates,
and on every panel of the gates: and have
His help, His pardon, His intercession, His
atonement, must, or be a forlorn wretch
forever. My Lord and my God! make me